As you can see from the above statement of inquiry, my French Phase 1-2 students have been investigating how different messages are structures in order to convey meaning. The cultural focus throughout this unit were case studies of the old district of Lyon and the city of Quebec. To introduce the unit the students watched this video about Lyon and were able to answer simple comprehension questions about the video by applying their already extensive knowledge of vocabulary related to the topic of town. After becoming familiar with places and culture unique to Lyon such as the traboules and bouchons, we looked at the text from page 14 of Le Mag 2 to identify the structure and types of language used in a persuasive text such as a brochure or poster, and then we looked at the qualities of a web page using the text on Le Périgord from page 62 of Expo 4 Vert OCR. We practised the following grammatical structures:
Of course, as we were completing this unit there were high expectations to learn the relevant vocabulary and grammatical structures. The quiz sets that I created on www.quizlet.com are below and here is my post on how to make a Google Form into a Google Quiz.
With all of this completed, we moved on to look at a case study of Quebec. Although I would have loved for the students to have done individual research of a city or region in a Francophone country, it can be very difficult for them to find relevant specific information that they can simplify down into language that they can communicate effectively. As such, we looked at a case study of Quebec as a class. This video is a perfect example of how a message can be structured to communicate effectively (see statement of inquiry above) and an excellent opportunity to analyse the conventions of a text:
After watching the video and completing the worksheet, the students did a simple activity matching pictures to the place names. The students were encouraged to search these places up online to learn more about them. Finally the students were ready to prepare their persuasive text about Quebec City that they would write in exam conditions. Below you can see the task that there were given along with the checklist of things to include: Here are some examples of the written work produced at the time of the in-class assessment.
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One of the things that I love about the MYP is the way it allows me to focus a unit of study on concepts and skills. Pre-MYP I must admit that when I taught a topic such as Free Time, I felt a bit lost with where to start and finish. There were so many different options to focus on such as:
...and the list goes on. Typically I would try to cover as much as possible drawing on culturally authentic resources (such as La Tour de France, TV Guides, Sports Centre activity lists etc.), and then try to assess all four skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. Phew! It was a little overwhelming for me, and probably for my students as well. Cue our school's transition to the MYP Framework. Now I separate out how I teach the topic of Free Time, and have clear guided focuses for each unit. Currently, I am teaching a unit called INVITATIONS to my French Phase 1 class. The statement of Inquiry (SOI) is "Conversations allows us to exchange attitudes and connect with others". Therefore our key concept is connections and the related concepts form (conversations) and purpose (exchange and connect). Our summative assessment will asses criteria C and D and is explicitly linked to the SOI; the students will use picture prompts to practice role-play conversations in which they will accept invitations and refuse invitations, and therefore exchange attitudes and connect. See the prompt cards for invitations and acceptances below. And here are the prompt cards that I made for invitations and refusals. So,what do I teach this unit?
As lesson starters we do activities focussing on accent and pronunciation, be it tongue twisters, songs or work from the SOS pronunciation packet (see post on this here), and we frequently practice the dialogues which become more complex as the students build their knowledge of the grammatical structures and vocabulary. In this unit the students will also be assessed on criteria B. On page 30 of Expo OCR GCSE Vert and page 30 of Expo OCR GCSE rouge there are examples of authentic French adverts for music festivals, dance shows and cinema viewings. These adverts provide the perfect opportunity for students to demonstrate comprehension of written and visual text and to apply their knowledge of invitations and acceptances and refusals in writing. Please see below the practice formative assessment that I have made for my students. And here is the summative assessment that I have made for my students. I would welcome any feedback or ideas that you have about this unit of inquiry or the above assessments. |
juliet orchard
I have been teaching French and Spanish for 13 years. I qualified and started teaching in the UK, and I currently work at Shanghai Community International School, China. I have experience teaching GCSEs and IB DP and MYP. Find out more about me within these blog pages or below at LinkedIn. ArchivesCategories
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